Amid steady calls for greater representation of race and gender at annual awards shows, the Directors Guild of America has answered the call, nominating a diverse group of contenders vying for the title of best director of 2017.

After missing out on a Golden Globe nod, Gerwig’s DGA recognition for Lady Bird offers a significant boost to the profile of her solo directorial debut one day before Oscar nominations voting ends. Get Out helmer Peele, who received two DGA nods — one for best director and another in the first-time director category — also gets a much needed boost from the DGA ahead of the Jan. 24 Oscar nominations.

The rest of the DGA’s nominees have established themselves as the year’s usual suspects in the run-up to the Academy Awards: The Shape of Water‘s Guillermo del Toro, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri‘s Martin McDonagh, and Dunkirk‘s Christopher Nolan.

Most of the DGA’s 2018 nominees reflect a narrowing Oscar race that had, up until Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards, yet to produce a clear-cut frontrunner in any of the major, above-the-line categories. McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri had picked up the most industry precursor recognition prior to its big best picture victory at the Globes, however, and repeats its hot streak here after previously securing nominations from the Screen Actors Guild and the Producers Guild — two of the most prominent Academy influencers on the circuit.

With roughly 16,000 members in film, television, and commercial media, the DGA remains one of the biggest precursor bodies on the Oscar trail. While its nominees rarely fully agree with the Academy’s, its victors’ circle looks a lot like Oscar’s: Across the last 70 ceremonies, only seven of the group’s winners have failed to repeat at the Academy Awards, thanks in large part to a significant portion of crossover membership shared by both groups.

The last time the DGA’s complete list of honorees fully aligned with Oscar’s eventual crop of nominees was in 2010. Since then, on average, the DGA and the Academy tend to match approximately 80 percent of their respective rosters. The most glaring exception to that pattern came in 2013, when the DGA’s nominated class included three filmmakers (Argo‘s Ben Affleck, Les Miserables‘ Tom Hooper, and Zero Dark Thirty director Kathryn Bigelow) were ultimately ignored by Academy voters.

Thus far, Nolan, del Toro, and McDonagh have paced the precursors, earning nominations from the Golden Globes, BAFTA, and seeing their films on the Producers Guild of America nominees list for best picture. It’s expected the three will contend for best director at the Oscars as well, though dark horses like The Post‘s Steven Spielberg and Call Me By Your Name‘s Luca Guadagnino also remain in contention for nominations.

Last year, La La Land director Damien Chazelle took the DGA’s top honor as well as the Oscar for best director, though his Emma Stone-fronted musical romance lost the Academy’s best picture statuette to Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, as the Oscar voting system (they vote with a preferential ballot with five slots for best picture versus a standard, weighted ballot) has favored a director/picture split in recent years.